


Winterfell Stories

by Winter_Heart



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: baby Arya
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-16
Updated: 2016-05-16
Packaged: 2018-06-08 18:38:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6868816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winter_Heart/pseuds/Winter_Heart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of pre-cannon Winterfell-centered ficlets that have been sitting in my drafts for a while now. The first is about Jon's feelings about Ned's absence during the Greyjoy rebellion and Arya's birth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Winterfell Stories

**Author's Note:**

> Not entirely sure the timeline for this fic works... but I hope you enjoy reading this!

His little sister, no, his  _ half-sister _ , had been born weeks ago. Despite Robb’s invitations and light tuggings, Jon had not yet seen his sister. He always evaded Robb’s invitations by starting to play some game or other. After a few times, Robb stopped urging him to visit the new baby. Jon hoped that Robb thought that he simply wasn’t interested in the baby and not that that Jon was afraid of Lady Catelyn. 

 

Not that Jon was afraid of Lady Catelyn... he wasn’t afraid of anything. He was very brave. Old Nan had always told him so. But he knew that Lady Catelyn did not love him. She had always been distant and treated him with a cool courtesy. And although Lady Catelyn had never been  _ unkind _ to him, he knew that she held no love for him. It seemed to Jon that Lady Catelyn would rather pretend that he was not there. She had not told him he couldn’t see the baby, but she had not invited him either.

  
Lady Catelyn was not  _ his _ mother. She was Robb’s mother, and Sansa’s mother, and now, the baby’s mother. But he had no mother. Well, he knew he must have had a mother, but he did not know her. He did not even know her name.

 

But Jon did know his sister’s name. Her name was Arya. Maester Luwin had suggested the name, Jon knew. The day after the baby had been born, Jon had walked to Lady Catelyn’s bedchamber to ask if we could see the baby. He was gathering all of this courage to go inside when he heard Maester Luwin’s voice.

 

“A splendid choice, my lady, a very fitting name. Lord Eddard will be very pleased. His mother’s mother was named Arya... yes, Arya, of the First Flints. She was a kinswomen to these mountain men that are part of Lord Eddard’s vanguard. ”

 

“My little girl” he could hear the happiness in Lady Catelyn’s voice. “Yes, her name will be Arya. I will write to Ned later today to tell him that his little Arya was born yesterday.”

 

“Lord Eddard will be very pleased, I do not doubt. You have bore him another healthy daughter, my lady. If I may say, your little daughter has Lord Eddard’s colouring”

 

Jon chanced a peek inside the room but did not see baby inside the bundle that Lady Catelyn was carrying. 

 

“Yes. Look at her sleep so peacefully” Lady Catelyn said with fondness. “And my little Arya is only two years younger than my Sansa. My girls will be as close as Lysa and I were as children. Bring my children, Maester. I want Robb and Sansa to see their sister.”

 

Her words cut him. Jon felt the tears gathering in his eyes and ran. She was so happy and she wanted to share her happiness with her family, with  _ her _ children. Who was he to sour her happiness with his presence? 

\---

He was her shame, Jon knew. Her husband’s  _ bastard _ . A boy without a mother, a boy with no place in the world.  

 

With father gone, Jon had begun wondering if he would always be alone, if he would ever have a place. Winterfell did not feel like home without his father. The war was over now, however, and father would come back. But what would happen to him if his father was called away to some other war and didn’t come back?

 

His sister had been born weeks ago and he still had not seen her. That still made him sad.. but what had happened the day before was almost as awful as not being able to see her. 

 

A few days ago, some of his father’s bannermen had begun arriving. Lady Catelyn had greeted them and introduced them to Robb and Sansa and mentioned the new baby. Jon watched them from the window from the covered bridge. He was not told he couldn’t go to the yard, but he had not been invited either.

 

After the lord’s had gone inside the castle, Jon met Robb in the courtyard. One lord, however, arrived later than the others. And worse, he mistook Jon for Robb. Lady Catelyn had corrected them with her cool courtesy and gave Jon a cold look that he would not soon forget. Her eyes told him what her proper lady manners would never allow her to say with words.  _ You are not my son, you do not belong here. What are you still doing here? _

 

Jon had tried to brush that aside. He was brave and he had Robb. When Jon and Robb played their game of knights and heroes that afternoon, Jon had shouted that he would be the Lord of Winterfell as he had done many times before… only this time Robb said he could never be the Lord of Winterfell because he was bastard born. Jon knew he was a bastard, but that was the first time Robb had ever called him that. If father did not come back, would Robb stop loving him? Did Robb not consider him a brother?

 

He knew it was stupid to think that, Robb was his best friend… but that loneliness that had settled in his heart since his father had left told him that he did not belong at Winterfell.

 

Ever since father left, Jon had begun to feel alone and he would sometimes feel the need to cry. He had not known how much he depended on his father’s kind words and hugs until he did not have them anymore. Even with Robb around, Jon felt so alone. He felt alone in Lady Catelyn’s household, especially when he saw her with Robb and Sansa. They all looked the same - they all look as if they belonged together. _ They are a family. And I do not belong with them. _

 

But he shook the thought and eagerly waited for his father to return to Winterfell. His father was to come soon and everything would be like it was before… well almost like it was before. Jon had become wiser since his father left. Maester Luwin had told him that he was a quick boy and brave. Jon also had a new sister and with father around, Jon knew he would have the courage to go to Lady Catelyn’s rooms to finally meet her. 

 

When his father finally arrived he hugged his wife and then Robb and Sansa and him. _Father is home._ And he did not feel so alone anymore.

 

Father had brought a large retinue with him and a boy. Jon saw the big, burly men who had arrived with his father. They were not dressed like the lords who had arrived a few days before. These men had longer beards, dressed plainer, and their cloaks and banners were also very different.

 

“These are men from the mountain clans,” Maester Luwin explained quietly to him and Robb. “They are some of your lord father’s most fierce and loyal bannermen.” 

 

"Theon Greyjoy" his father explained as the boy stepped forward. Lady Catelyn looked at him, nodded, and greeted him. Jon could tell that she did not look too happy, but she hid it well.

 

 

“Arya, the baby, is in my chambers,” Lady Catelyn said proudly before offering refreshments to his father’s men.

 

“Arya” said one of the men approvingly, “a good name for the Ned’s little girl.”

 

The men went to the great hall and Jon followed his father to Lady Catelyn’s rooms. He saw her give Ned the baby while Robb and Sansa jumped excitedly about their mother. Jon stood apart, out of the way. 

 

Jon did not know if his father knew that he had not met the baby. His father did not ask him. Father simply walked closer to him and kneeled beside him.

 

“This is Arya,” his father said  with a smile that lit his face.

 

“My little sister” Jon completed his words as Arya opened her eyes.  _ Dark eyes, like mine.  _ Her hair was the same dark color too. She looked like him. And when she smiled and made to grab him, he knew then that he would never be alone again.  _ I have a little sister, and her name is Arya. _

 

“Your little sister,” his father echoed after him with a smile that seemed a little sad now. He moved his arms a little to let Jon hold her too. 

 

“My little sister,” Jon said still amazed. “I will always love her and protect her” he vowed.

  
And long after the memory of that moment had vanished from his mind, he would keep that vow in his heart.

 


End file.
